I live on the outskirts of warsaw. It takes me about 45 minutes by bicycle to get to my office. I have forests close to me. A small/medium sized city is the way to go :)
But you are not living in the city. You are living 45 minutes away from it. That is the suburbs.
I live outside of Washington DC, just where the suburbs stop and the countryside begins. In some ways my situation is perfect, because I have a house and garden, and am a five minute drive from horses but yet a ten-minute drive from the terminus of the DC metro (subway) system that takes one into DC. I have also lived in or near several other large US cities, and have traveled and stayed throughout both Eastern and Western Europe. Cities are fascinating and exciting to visit for cultural purposes or to stay in briefly, but I cannot endure living in or near so much hardscape. I need trees, fields, soil beneath my feet, horses.
Like many Americans, I also want to be less dependent upon and controlled by government and less vulnerable to the behaviors of most city-dwellers. If the Lord allows, I will move further out into the countryside soon.